About

The Local Food Region

Where does your food come from? At the Mount Pleasant Farmers’ Market, we forage in a defined Region: the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Basically the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Region is your local food pantry. We also call it the foodshed. Your foodshed includes pasture, hedge-row, forest, stream, river, bay, sea, and sky. We make one major exception to this rule: grains in baked goods may be purchased from outside the Region. But we’re keen to find farmers and bakers to bring regional wheat, corn meal, popcorn, or any other grains to market.

Who Sells at the Market Farmers
Farmers sell their own beef, lamb, pork, poultry, eggs, produce, herbs, and flowers. Some make sausage, quiche, cheese, and apple pies, too.

Preserve Makers
A prize for you, if you can come up with a more charming name for these wonderful folks, who make pickles, jams, sauces, salsas, chutneys, and other preserves from local produce. The major ingredients must be local; we call this the ‘no marmalade’ rule. Marmalade is made of oranges (exotic in our part of the world) and sugar. You may find local raspberry jam or green tomato chutney. Many farmers also make their own preserves.

Bakers
Local bakers make sweet and savory baked goods from scratch. Meat, poultry, dairy products, and produce used in the baked goods come from local farms. Bakers can buy flour and fats (butter, olive oil) from outside the region, but we’re thrilled when they can find local ingredients.

Sell at the Mount Pleasant Farmers’ Market
We’re always looking for new farmers, bakers, and preserve-makers. Mount Pleasant needs producers of local seafood and all kinds of dairy products, including milk, cream, butter, and cheese.

What We’re Looking For
We’re after foods produced with organic, biodynamic, and other ecological methods. We’re keen on traditional breeds and good-tasting varieties. We prefer traditional methods of production, such as raw milk cheese and unhomogenized milk. We don’t allow hydrogenated oils, MSG, artificial flavors and colors, or corn syrup. Meat and dairy must come from animals raised without antibiotics or hormones. Grazing animals and poultry must have access to pasture.